Skin care compositions containing retinoids have become the focus of great interest in recent years. Retinoic acid, also known as Vitamin A acid or tretinoin, is well-known for the treatment of such skin conditions as acne and products containing retinoic acid are commercially available in various forms from the Dermatological Division of Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation. Such products, for example, include Retin A* creams, an oil-in-water emulsion of retinoic acid containing as an oil-soluble antioxidant, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT); Retin A* liquid, a solution of retinoic acid in a polyethylene glycol/ethanol solvent employing BHT as an antioxidant; and Retin A* gel, which comprises retinoic acid in a gel vehicle comprising ethyl alcohol as the solvent, hydroxypropyl cellulose as the thickener or gelling agent and BHT as an antioxidant. These retinoic acid containing products have proven stable and capable of providing active ingredients after extended periods of storage.
More recently, however, wider use of retinoids has been suggested for treatments other than acne such as, for example, the treatment of skin against photoaging and sun damage. Many individuals who have had a good deal of sun exposure in childhood will show the following gross cutaneous alterations in later adult life: wrinkling, leatheriness, yellowing, looseness, roughness, dryness, mottling (hyperpigmentation) and various premalignant growths (often subclinical). These changes are most prominent in light-skinned persons who burn easily and tan poorly. These cumulative effects of sunlight are often referred to as "photoaging". Although the anatomical degradation of the skin is most advanced in the elderly, the destructive effects of excessive sun exposure are already evident by the second decade. Serious microscopic alterations of the epidermis and dermis occur decades before these become clinically visible. Wrinkling, yellowing, leatheriness and loss of elasticity are very late changes.
The problem of skin aging is addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,603,146, wherein Vitamin A acid in an emollient vehicle is suggested as a treatment. Further, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,805, it is suggested that a number of retinoids are useful for restoring and reversing sun damage of human skin.
When considering the use of retinoids in skin care products, it is believed that certain retinoids such as, for example, retinol (Vitamin A alcohol), retinal (Vitamin A aldehyde) and retinyl esters such as retinyl acetate and retinyl palmitate would be preferred over retinoic acid. This is because they are endogenous compounds naturally occurring in the human body and essential for good growth, differentiation of the epithelial tissues and reproduction. Additionally, excess retinol is stored in the human body largely in an inactive ester form, e.g., retinyl palmitate and, to some extent, retinyl acetate. The aldehyde, retinal, also a preferred form, is an active metabolite of retinol. Accordingly, attention has turned toward formulating skin care compositions which contain these preferred, naturally occurring retinoids.
In formulating products containing such retinoids, the same properties sought with respect to the retinoic acid formulas are desirable for other retinoid containing compositions. Specifically, much attention is directed toward providing a composition which is aesthetically pleasing and which can deliver active ingredients after a substantial shelf life. Not surprising, in formulating products containing such retinoids, the art is led to the experience gained in the already existing formulas containing retinoic acid. Typically, such formulas comprise oil-in-water emulsions wherein the retinoic acid is carried within the oil phase and is protected from oxidation by employing an oil-soluble antioxidant. With respect to the form of the emulsion, oil-in-water emulsions have been preferred in that, as compared to water-in-oil emulsions for example, they are non-occlusive, non-greasy, compatible with other such emulsion products, easy to remove from the skin and are regarded as more aesthetically pleasing as well as being more economical to manufacture. With respect to chemical stability of the active ingredient, it has been experienced that the retinoic acid in the oil phase is, in the main, well protected by including in such oil phase an oil soluble antioxidant. Thus, various oil-in-water emulsions containing retinoic acid and BHT, as oil-soluble antioxidant have been described and sold, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,108, U.S. Pat. No. 4,66,805, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,547. The retinoic acid containing compositions described in these patents have proven to be, or are said to be, chemically stable. Therefore, a number of skin care products have appeared in the marketplace incorporating other retinoids, including, for example, retinol, retinal and retinyl esters such as retinyl acetate and retinyl palmitate, and these unsurprisingly emulate the formulas of the commercial retinoic acid compositions, i.e., are oil-in-water emulsions protected by oil-soluble antioxidants. Unfortunately, it has been found that these other retinoids in such compositions quickly lose their activity and either oxidize or isomerize to non-efficacious chemical forms with the result that the amount of retinoid actually available to provide the beneficial effects of the product is reduced, in an unacceptably short period of time, to an ineffective quantity and eventually to only trace quantities.
There have been attempts to formulate a stable composition comprising retinol, retinal, retinyl acetate and retinyl palmitate in oil-in-water emulsions, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,828. Avon Products, Inc., the assignee of U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,828, sells two skin care products called Bioadvance and Bioadvance 2000. Each of these products is supplied in two bottles, portions of which are mixed together just prior to use. U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,353 (Bell) describes water-in-oil emulsion carriers for various medicaments and drugs intended for topical application to the skin. Other water-in-oil type emulsions have been described in EP 0 343 444 A2 (Siemer et al.) and EP 0 330 496 A2 (Batt).
Clum et al., in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/719,264, now abandoned, describe stable water-in-oil compositions containing a retinoid and a stabilizing system selected form the group consisting of: (a) a chelating agent and at least one oil-soluble antioxidant; (b) a chelating agent and at least one water-soluble antioxidant; and an antioxidant present in each of the oil and water phases of the emulsion. This composition retains at least about 60% of the retinoids after 13 weeks of storage at 40.degree. C. Although this system is quite stable and useful in retinoid-containing products, it is nevertheless a water-in-oil emulsion and retains all the attributes, advantages and disadvantages of such a formulation. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an oil-in-water formulation which is stable and acceptable for use on the skin.